Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 74 The Two Zhous and Two Zhangs of Donglin: A Slanderous Speech (Part 1)

Song Yingxing developed the lathe, and Zheng Zhilong agreed to steal copper for free.

With Daming Industry poised to enter a period of rapid development, Zhu Jue couldn't help but feel happy, even humming a little tune as he walked.

However, he was disgusted after only reviewing a few memorials after returning to the main hall of Yuxi Palace.

Huang Daozhou, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy, submitted a memorial stating that he was obsessed with shipbuilding and creating all sorts of frivolous things, neglecting state affairs and allowing the treacherous eunuch Wei Zhongxian to run rampant, which was not the behavior of a wise ruler.

This fellow even advised him to hurry up and attend court to govern, eliminate the eunuch faction, and appoint virtuous and capable officials.

You know nothing!
He really wanted to call this guy over and give him a good scolding.

However, he thought about it and decided against it.

This was because he knew very well that Han Kuang and Feng Quan were using Huang Daozhou to annoy him.

He had long known that neither the eunuch faction nor the Donglin faction was a monolithic entity.

The Donglin Party had members who secretly colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, as well as those who advocated peace and those who advocated war.

Huang Daozhou was a proponent of war. Historically, after the fall of the Southern Ming Hongguang Dynasty, Huang Daozhou returned to his hometown and recruited thousands of soldiers. Like moths to a flame, they charged towards the Qing army. He was eventually captured, but he refused to surrender and died a heroic death.

This is loyalty demonstrated with one's life.

However, he wouldn't dare use someone like that.

It's all because this guy likes to teach emperors how to do things!
Emperor Chongzhen once scolded this fellow, saying, "All his learning in his life has only produced a glib tongue!"

There's no need to pay attention to these kinds of people; the more you engage with them, the more they'll escalate their behavior.

He didn't want to argue with this guy about right and wrong like Emperor Chongzhen did.

That would be a waste of breath.

He never does such meaningless things.

He thought for a moment, then simply tossed the memorial aside and said indifferently, "Keep it in the archives, don't send it."

Originally, he thought that he could just endure it and it would pass.

Who would have thought that after he had only reviewed a few memorials, another person would suddenly appear to teach him how to do things!

Liu Zongzhou, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, submitted a memorial stating that he had listened to the treacherous eunuch Wei Zhongxian and had recklessly built city walls and factories in the east of the capital, causing hardship and wasting money on the people. He suggested that the money should have been used for disaster relief.

You don't know anything!

Do I not want to provide disaster relief?

Do you know how many disaster victims there are in Northwest China?

That's tens of millions!
This amount of money wouldn't even be enough for a month's worth of disaster relief.

I need to use money to generate enough money to truly provide relief for this once-in-a-century mini ice age disaster, do you understand?

Liu Zongzhou certainly didn't know any of this.

This fellow, like Huang Daozhou, spent his entire life learning only to produce a sycophantic mouth!
The two Zhou brothers of Donglin were just two sycophants who couldn't even do their own jobs properly but only wanted to teach the emperor how to do things.

The problem is that these two self-righteous hotheads are both proponents of war.

He finally understood that Han Kuang and Feng Quan not only wanted to use the two Zhou brothers of Donglin to annoy him, but also wanted to provoke a fierce battle between him and the Donglin pro-war faction, so as to use him to deal with the Donglin pro-war faction!

These traitors who collude with the enemy are cunning; they have secretly helped the Jurchens eliminate countless pro-war elements.

Sun Chengzong, a pillar of the Donglin Party's pro-war faction, was betrayed by these guys because he recovered lost territory and drove out the Jurchens during the Jisi Incident, and then went to repair the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line.

When the Jurchens invaded later, they actually rushed from Zunhua for seven or eight hundred miles to capture Gaoyang County, the hometown of Sun Chengzong, and slaughtered more than one hundred members of the Gao clan!
Upon hearing the news, Lu Xiang-sheng led several thousand men to the rescue, but was betrayed and trapped by the Jurchens in Julu, where he fought valiantly and died!

The Jurchens were like satellite navigation systems in the capital region. These guys were able to travel seven or eight hundred miles straight to Gaoyang County in the unfamiliar capital region of the Ming Dynasty without any deviation. Moreover, when Lu Xiangshan led his army to rescue them, he was able to surround them in one fell swoop!
Do we have satellite navigation these days? Of course not. The traitors in the Ming Dynasty court were the Jurchens' satellite navigation!
Zhu Jue gritted his teeth inwardly, then glanced at Liu Zongzhou's memorial and said decisively, "Keep it in the archives and do not send it."

These traitors who colluded with the enemy and betrayed their country wanted to use him, but he naturally wouldn't fall for it.

However, his mood was indeed affected.

After reviewing the memorials, he simply led Wang Chengen and Fang Zhenghua directly to the East City Steel Plant to inspect the steel.

Now all ten blast furnaces in the steel plant are in operation, producing over 100,000 jin of steel every day. The open space around the blast furnaces is almost completely filled with steel, iron ingots, and coal, which is quite a pleasant sight.

He watched for a while, and Song Yingsheng strode over, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "How is it? Have you prepared enough pig iron and coal for the winter?"

This space isn't enough.

Song Yingsheng looked around and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, there aren't many places where steel is needed right now. Tens of thousands of catties a day is less than half used. There are far too many steel ingots piled up here, and we're almost out of storage space for pig iron and coal. Our winter reserves are less than half full." Right now, there's more steel than we can use!
His plans seem a bit too far ahead of their time.

It will take time for the Ming Dynasty's industry to develop. Right now, only the chariot factory and boiler factory need a lot of steel. Other things haven't even started mass production yet.

However, there are quite a few places where steel ingots, iron ingots, and coal are stored.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said: "You can have people move the steel ingots to the tank factory, boiler factory and machinery factory, especially the machinery factory. It hasn't started production yet, and the space is empty. You can move as many as you want there and they can all fit them."

Furthermore, you can have people unload pig iron and coal directly at the shipyard and lumber mill. The time required to finalize the design of shipbuilding materials is too long. It would be good enough if Liangfu could build a ship prototype this year. Mass production would definitely have to wait until next year.

"Anyway, that area is mostly empty this year, so it doesn't matter how much pig iron and coal you stockpile there."

Oh, it can be placed in another factory.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingsheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Have you figured out the material of the steel yet?"

He naturally figured out a bit of the trick.

Song Yingsheng explained in detail: "Your Majesty, I have discovered that the longer pig iron is smelted in the blast furnace, the stronger its toughness and the easier it is to process."

The shorter the time pig iron is smelted in the blast furnace, the more brittle the material becomes. Even small parts the thickness of a finger can break if dropped on the ground.

"Your Majesty, do you think we should extend the smelting time? I've discovered that after three days of smelting, or thirty-six hours, the steel becomes more ductile and easier to work with."

This is simply a matter of carbon content.

If pig iron has too high a carbon content, it will not only lack toughness, but also hardness.

He recalled that pig iron had to have its carbon content reduced to below two percent before it could be turned into steel.

Furthermore, steel is divided into high-carbon steel, medium-carbon steel, and low-carbon steel.

All three types of steel are useful; not all of them need to be melted down into low-carbon steel.

For example, high-carbon steel has high hardness, making it excellent for cutting tools, while low-carbon steel has high toughness, is easy to process, and can be used to make connectors, gears, and even bridges.

The problem is, how do I explain this carbon content to people?
Can Song Yingsheng understand?
Let me give you a general overview first. If Song Yingsheng doesn't understand, I'll use the smelting time as an example.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "You know about bronze, right? Besides copper, bronze also contains lead and tin. This kind of thing is called an alloy, which is a metal made by fusing two or more metals together."

Song Yingsheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I know about bronze. I have even seen people smelt bronze."

If you know about bronze, things will be a little easier.

Zhu Jue used an analogy: "Pig iron and steel can actually be regarded as an alloy. However, pig iron and steel are not made by fusing two metals together. Instead, pig iron and steel contain carbon."

If you've ever watched someone smelt bronze, you should know that the lead and tin content has a certain ratio. If too much lead is added, the bronze will become hard and brittle. If too much lead is added, it won't be bronze anymore, and it won't be usable.

The same principle applies to pig iron and steel. The carbon content is similar to that of lead. If iron contains too much carbon, it is not called steel, but pig iron. The quality of pig iron is much worse than that of steel.

Steel becomes harder and more brittle when it contains more carbon, and the less carbon it contains, the closer it is to pure steel, just like pure copper, which is tough and easy to process.

High-carbon steel is actually quite useful because it can be used to make drill bits, reamers, lathe tools, etc., which can process low-carbon steel.

Do you understand it? "

Upon hearing this, Song Yingsheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

You actually understood that, not bad, not bad.

Zhu Jue nodded with satisfaction and said, "It's good that you understand. In the future, you should test it carefully to see how long it takes for pig iron to be smelted into steel. Use the iron with a short smelting time to make cutting tools, and use the iron with a long smelting time to make parts, or even gun barrels and cannon barrels."

Song Yingsheng nodded slowly, then asked, "Your Majesty, can other metals be added to steel to make alloys?"

You can think of this too?
This is a natural ability.

There are plenty of alloy steels out there.

For example, stainless steel, spring steel, high-speed steel, etc.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then suggested, "You can try it with a known metal, or even a non-metal, such as quartz. Adding an appropriate amount to steel will make the steel strip more elastic."

Ok.

I enjoy tinkering with these things.

Song Yingsheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand. I will definitely give it a try."

(End of this chapter)